Cleanup efforts continue in the communities of Osmond, Fairview and Smoot following a powerful microburst storm that unexpectedly pounded the southern Star Valley area Friday evening. The weather event occurred at roughly 7:30 p.m. and brought strong winds, ¾ inch sized hail and intense rainfall.
Some of the damage included tipped over trailers, roofs ripped off of buildings and crashing trees and leaving still standing trees with no leaves. Many residents in Smoot reported tornado activity. While radar in images showed rotational activity in the storm clouds and the formation of a funnel cloud, as of Tuesday afternoon the National Weather Service has not confirmed that a tornado actually touched down. The NWS-Riverton Office continues to investigate the storm. A detailed report is expected, but has not yet been received. In an initial statement following the storm, NWS said it appeared to be a “microburst with the storm strengthening quickly and then dropping its core of rain and hail just as quickly directly over the valley between Smoot and Afton.” Despite the intense nature and destruction from the storm, no injuries were reported.
With or without an official tornado touching down, the impacts were still very present. Power was lost to more than 2,000 locations in the area due to trees on power lines and a total of broken power poles and a downed conductor. Lower Valley Energy immediately jumped into action to assess the damage and restore power, with 13 lineman and 5 support staff working through the night alongside Mountainside Power who assisted. Private contractors in the valley also assisted. Due to their efforts which took place throughout the night, most residents had power restored before 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning.
“Our priority was making the system safe and restoring as many members as possible as quickly as possible,” explained CEO Bear Prairie. “Where trees had fallen into lines but poles were still standing, crews were able to remove the trees, repair and rehang conductor, and restore service. Through those efforts, more than 1,000 of the approximately 2,000 members initially affected were restored within the first few hours.”
“From there, crews worked to sectionalize the electrical system and make temporary or patch repairs where it could be done safely. This allowed us to continue shrinking the outage and isolate the most heavily damaged areas,” continued Prairie. “The areas with broken poles required significantly more time because crews had to remove damaged facilities, set new poles, frame them, reinstall conductors and rebuild portions of the distribution system. As the mainline system was restored, much of the work during the final approximately 12 hours involved individual service lines and smaller groups of membe
Prairie also thanked contractors and emergency responders who assisted in the effort, stating that all restoration work was completed safely with no injuries.rs whose services had been directly damaged or torn down by the storm. Crews continued working through the night and much of the following day until service was restored.”
Along with those who jumped into action to restore power, there have been multiple stories of the community coming together to help those impacted by the storm. Local resident Barny Kleeman shared how a wedding was saved due to volunteer help. Her son, Reese, and his fiance Lizzie were scheduled to be married on Saturday at a family property in Smoot. The family had just finished a dress rehearsal when the storm moved in.
“Within a couple of short minutes, the amount of hail, rain and wind that settled in was so wild!” stated Kleeman. “As we all tried to take shelter under a space with a massive amount of trees, which were crashing down around us, the devastation in my heart of how hard everyone had worked was so heavy. By the grace of God, no one was hurt.”
Kleeman stated that the couple decided to move forward with the wedding at the same location. Family and friends jumped to work with chainsaws, trucks, trailers, tractors and shovels. The area was cleared and the wedding took place Saturday evening.
“To everyone that showed up all weekend long to help make the wedding still possible, we are so grateful!” continued Kleeman. “These kids are loved! THANK YOU will never be enough!”
This is just one of many similar examples of the community helping each other. More stories will be shared in upcoming editions of the Star Valley Independent.
